11 September 2007
Israeli police have arrested a gang of neo-Nazis accused of xenophobic and anti-Semitic attacks. The eight suspects, aged 16-21, are all Israeli citizens from the former Soviet Union. They were arrested a month ago, but the affair has only just been made public. Police say searches of their homes yielded Nazi uniforms, portraits of Adolf Hitler, knives, guns and TNT. The arrests follow a year-long inquiry which began after a synagogue in Petah Tikva, east of Tel Aviv, was desecrated with graffiti of Nazi swastikas and the name Adolf Hitler. The eight accused, who include the group's alleged leader, are all from Petah Tikva. The gang members sported tattoos popular with white supremacists - including the number 88, code for Heil Hitler because ‘H’ is the eighth letter of the alphabet. Police say the gang members would target homosexuals, Jews who wore a skull cap and drug addicts, often videotaping their attacks.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed his horror at what he called "violence for the sake of violence”, and said ”I am sure that there is not a person in Israel who can remain indifferent to these scenes, which indicate that we too as a society have failed in the education of these youths”.
